


Knowing the Score

by Sophie



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Established Relationship, Multi, News Media, Polyamory, set during the 2014-15 season, some racism and homophobia including internalised homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-29 10:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5123756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophie/pseuds/Sophie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Its screen shows an article on HuffPost titled “Canadiens' P. K. Subban Having an Affair With Goalie Carey Price's Wife?” with that amazing question mark that magically makes this not-libel, in case they're wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knowing the Score

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Hockey RPF Big Bang 2015.
> 
> Podfic by the amazing [cinderlily](http://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily) can be found [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5148572)! Fanmix [here](http://8tracks.com/cinderlily/knowing-the-score)! Check them out!
> 
> Huge thanks to Monika for the plot beta, and [masterpenguin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/masterpenguin) for the SPAG beta.

In retrospect, it had been a bad idea to bring Angie back to his hotel room without Pricey there too. They'd all been making so many bad decisions in the last few months, they'd done so many stupid things without getting caught, PK had begun thinking they were invincible, that nothing could go wrong.

They land in Montreal a half hour past midnight. They always expect a small group of reporters when they return from an away trip, although not many when it's the middle of the night – sometimes none at all. It was only two games, they won one and lost the other in overtime, and no one got hurt badly, so it's obvious the crowd of journalists waiting at the airport are not there to talk about hockey.

PK has a bad feeling and as he glances at Pricey and Angie, he can tell from the look on their faces that the same thought is going through their minds.

They must be developing the power of premonition because the journalists go straight for the three of them, and the first question PK can make out is directed at Pricey.

“Carey, any comment about the affair Subban is having with your wife?” the guy yells, ecstatic and clearly very proud of his question, as if that was in any way appropriate to ask with PK and Angie both _right there_.

PK thinks that he would have really liked it if this hadn't happened with both his parents a meter away.

Then he thinks, _Fuck_.

*

“Are my parents okay?” he asks half an hour later, sitting down in an office with at least half the team's media relations staff. He figures the other half is with Pricey and Angie, although he's apparently won the jackpot because he's got Dominick Saillant, the Director of Media Relations. Dominick is dressed in full suit-and-tie, looking way too professional for someone who had been woken at one in the morning.

PK really just wants to go to sleep, but he figures that might take a while now.

“Yes,” a woman says, Dominick is too busy glaring at PK to answer himself. “They were escorted to the gate of their plane to Toronto and were strongly advised to say nothing else but 'no comment' if anyone asks them anything about the situation.”

PK sighs loudly and it transforms into a huge yawn that he can't stop at all. “Sorry,” he says, rubbing his eyes. “What _is_ the situation exactly?”

“ _That's_ the situation,” Dominick says, handing PK a tablet.

Its screen shows an article on HuffPost titled “Canadiens' P. K. Subban Having an Affair With Goalie Carey Price's Wife?” with that amazing question mark that magically makes this not-libel, in case they're wrong. PK scrolls down, skimming the article. They don't really have anything to say at all, but the article is riddled with phone pictures every fifty words. They added timestamps to the photographs, as to show that he and Angela got to his room around eleven thirty and that Angela left a bit after one.

It's not looking good but if that's all the media have, they don't have _proof_ , exactly.

“Okay so Angela came to my room, that doesn't mean we're having an affair. We can deny our way through this, can't we?”

Dominick squints. “We could. But before we choose on a course of action, we want to know what is really going on.”

PK presses his lips together. He has brought up telling the team's PR or their agents about their relationship to Pricey and Angie in the past, in case shit exploded in their face. Pricey was vehement about how much he did not want to do that, and that was fine with PK. Now that shit might actually be exploding though, maybe he's changed his mind. Either way, PK's not the one who's going to be telling Dominick what's going on.

“Why aren't Carey and Angela here with us?” he asks instead of answering.

They all stare at PK as if he was a complete idiot. “This is a delicate topic,” Stéphanie, one of Dominick's assistants, says. “We didn't think having you and Carey in the same room while we talk about this would be the best option.”

“We want the truth, and you're not very likely to tell us if Angela Price is cheating on her husband if the guy is sitting next to you,” Dominick says, more bluntly. PK gets it, and he guesses it would make sense if there really was an affair going on behind Pricey’s back.

PK shakes his head and waves his hands in front of him for emphasis. “Angie isn't cheating on Pricey, nothing to worry about. The media's got it wrong. But I think we should all be deciding together what to do about, like, statements and stuff.” Although what would really be best is if PK could talk to them in private first.

They're all looking at PK skeptically, like they don't completely believe him. Eventually, Stéphanie and Dominick exchange a look and Stéphanie takes out her phone to send a text, presumably to whoever's with the other two. PK yawns again.

“We were not thinking about issuing any sort of specific statement if you and Carey Price both agree to deny everything,” Dominick says in the meantime. “Talking about it will only pour oil on the fire so we'd write a generic 'our players' personal lives are personal' to be read by Marc Bergevin and then you'd have to aggressively no-comment everything.”

PK nods and gives them a small shrug. “Sounds good to me.”

Stéphanie's phone vibrates and she reads the message, saying, “The Prices' were also asking for this meeting to happen with PK's presence, and they're adamant that no cheating took place,” she says, looking relieved. Maybe she's glad that she might get some sleep tonight after all. The phone vibrates in her hands again. “They're suggesting a meeting tomorrow before the morning skate and to avoid making any comment in the meantime.”

“That sounds really great,” PK chips in. “Honestly, it's not a big deal. The story might even be dropped without anyone asking too many questions.”

“It's our job to make sure we're ready to deal with the worst-case scenario in cases like these,” Dominick says curtly. “Tell them we'll meet at nine,” he tells Stéphanie. “PK, we'll see you tomorrow.”

PK nods and takes his cue to leave.

Once he's sitting in his car, he takes out his phone to text Pricey and realises that he hasn't turned it off airplane mode since they've landed. As soon as he does, it immediately starts pinging.

“ _No,_ ” PK tells it emphatically, putting it on silent. When it calms down, he has 4 voice messages and 37 texts from 6 different people. None of them are from Pricey, Angie, or his parents, so he'll look at them tomorrow.

can i come over?, he sends to Pricey and Angie both, doubling his chances of one of them seeing it.

It's late. Pricey sends back.

Sure! Angie answers at about the same time.

And then: Angie says I have to say yes.

man you are so whipped, PK writes.

As if Angie didn't have you whipped, also.

only because that's how i like it

PK drives to their place and they fall asleep pressed against each other without even taking the time to talk. It's comforting to know that they're all still there for each other right now.

In the morning PK wakes last, grabs boxers from the floor and finds his pants to get at his phone. He sits on the edge of the bed and starts answering the worried texts from friends and family. He has something from all four of his siblings, but doesn't have anything from his parents, so he calls them.

“Hello?” His father answers after half a ring.

“Hey, Dad.”

“PK! Hang on.”

PK can tell his father is putting his hand on the receiver, but he still hears him yell out: “Maria! PK's on the phone!”

He hears the faint click of his mom picking up their second phone. “Oh, baby! Are you okay?”

PK can't help but smile. “Yeah Mom, everything's fine.”

“I can't believe any news site would publish something like this with so little proof. It's like you're not allowed to be friends with a teammate's wife,” she continues.

“Can you sue for libel?” His father adds, coldly.

“I haven't looked into it but I don't think so.” Especially since he _was_ having sex with Angie so the articles are probably not even made of a series of lies. “Suing anyone would make the story bigger anyway.”

“Just keep the option in mind,” advises his father.

“Is everything okay with Carey?” his mother asks, changing the topic.

“Yeah, don't worry. I'm at his place right now. We're talking about what we wanna do, and we're meeting with PR later this morning.”

“That's good,” his father says. “I'm glad that he knows you well enough that he's not doubting you. He's a good guy. Him and his wife.”

“Yeah, they are,” PK answers fondly.

“You should find yourself a nice wife like Angela. Or a husband, I guess, but a wife would make kids easier,” his mom says, an old joke between them since he came out to his parents.

“Don't listen to your mother. Concentrate on hockey.”

PK laughs, the familiarity of this exchange making him feel warm.

*

Pricey’s making breakfast in the kitchen and Angie is sitting down with her laptop a few feet away. There's coffee on the counter and PK grabs the biggest mug he can find in the cupboards and fills it to the rim. He drinks a third of it before mumbling “Morning” and moving to glance over Angela's shoulders. As expected, she's looking at the spread of the story on the web.

“So?” he asks her.

“I think we'll be okay. They're all using the pictures from the HuffPost article as evidence – did they show you the HuffPost article?” she asks, turning her head to look at PK, who nods. “Nothing terribly incriminating. We could say that Pricey was tired and didn't want to celebrate the win with us so we left him to sleep and had a good time together.”

“Basically, exactly what happened but without the part about how impossible it is to get some sleep with you two getting it on in the same bed,” Pricey says from the stove.

“You know,” PK answers, grinning, “most people wouldn't complain about me and Angie in their bed.”

“I wasn't _complaining_. I was exhausted. I don't know how you had any energy left after that game.”

“I don't know how out of shape you have to be to _ever_ be totally empty after a game, man, you don't even skate,” PK chirps.

“Fuck you,” Pricey says, good-naturally. “So. Did you tell PR what was really going on?”

PK sits down next to Angela and shakes his head. “Nah, just that Angie wasn't cheating on you. But they asked.”

“Good, we can keep it that way.”

PK looks at Pricey’s set face, and then glances at Angie who doesn't look completely happy about this.

“I was thinking maybe we should tell PR, actually. Or some people on the team?”

“No,” Pricey says categorically. “I'm not coming out to anyone, as anything.”

PK wants to tell him that he'd like to be able to tell his parents about them, but that'd be a shitty, borderline manipulative thing to do. Even if Angie is on PK's side, it would be a dick move to gang up on Pricey and try to convince him to change his mind when he's obviously not comfortable at all with people knowing anything.

So instead, PK says, “Okay, no problem.”

He thought everything happening might have made Pricey reconsider. Maybe it did, for all he knows, but not enough that Pricey changed his mind.

“Can you get plates?” Pricey asks.

Angie starts moving.

“I was talking to PK.”

PK laughs and stands before Angie can stop him.

* * *

Canadiens' P. K. Subban Having an Affair With Goalie Carey Price's Wife? (PICTURES)  
By Jay Cohen  
Posted: 11/04/2014 11:23 pm EST | Updated: 11/05/2014 1:03 am EST

Every year, NHL's Montreal Canadiens organise a Family Game, an away game at which each player can invite some of their family members on the team's dime.

“It's a bit of a tradition, and everyone really enjoys it,” explains the General Manager, Marc Bergevin. “We fly in the families and there's a supper the day before the game with everyone. Some players can only see their parents during the summer. And that way, the players get to get acquainted with their teammates' families.”

And certainly, star defenceman P.K. Subban did “get acquainted” with his teammates' families.

_[Picture of Subban with Angela Price (née Webber) walking out of a hotel elevator. They are both smiling widely and standing very close to each other. The angle gives the impression that Subban's hand is on Angela's lower back. Timestamp in the lower right corner: 11:31PM.]_

After the game, a fast-paced 6-4 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Subban and Angela Price were seen going back to Subban's hotel room without goalie Carey Price in view.

A witness, the convenient photographer of the pictures featured in this article, shared that the closeness and energy between Subban and Angela Price could not have been mistaken for anything else than sexual in nature.

_[Picture of Angela Price, grinning and eyes closed, pulling P.K. Subban by his shirt inside his own hotel room. P.K. Subban's face is in clear view, and his mouth is half-opened, a hint of his tongue showing on his lower lip. Timestamp in the lower right corner: 11:32PM.]_

The defenceman and his goalie's wife “celebrated” the win until very late in the night. When Angela Price left Subban's room to go back to her husband, the witness says her hair and clothes and makeup all showed signs of a “struggle”.

_[Picture of Angela Price leaving P.K. Subban's hotel room. The door is still opened although Subban can't be seen in the picture. Angela's hair is a bit ruffled and she is not wearing lipstick anymore. Her shirt isn't tucked in her skirt like it was earlier in the night. Timestamp in the lower right corner: 1:07AM.]_

It certainly looks like something happened in that room, but we could not get any confirmation or denial either from the team, Subban, or the Prices. The only thing we can say for sure is that P.K. Subban really took Family Game to heart.  


* * *

The meeting with PR goes well enough. They're told that the GM will make his statement later that day, and that they'll actually answer questions when asked, mostly by a lot of nonchalant shrugging and “PK and Angela are friends, too, they can hang out.”

The 24CH people will also make sure to film some footage of PK and Pricey poking fun at each other in the locker room tonight for next episode – not that it's going to be difficult since they do that nearly every day and they're usually trying to find footage of other players being idiots. The idea is that if the whole thing looks boring enough, no one will remember in a week.

“If it doesn't die out and you want to make it go away faster, the best way would be for Carey to make a statement,” Dominick says. “He's the one who is allegedly wronged, so if he doesn't give people any reason to pity him or be sorry for him, people won't feel invested in the story.”

“I'd prefer not to,” Pricey comments. “Let's see how it goes first.”

*

It goes well. PK gets asked a few times about the rumour and dismisses it all with his usual good nature. Pricey only gets asked about it twice, and both times he shrugs and answers, “I don't know what to tell you, it's just gossip.” He's so boring no one else even tries.

They're winning, too, which means reporters spend their time talking about hockey. A losing streak is the worst thing that can happen to a team in terms of media getting tired of talking about hockey and falling back on tangentially related topics.

“D'you know why people jumped on the idea that you and Pricer's wife were having an affair?” Prusty throws at him before practice.

PK shrugs and says, nonchalant, “Racism?” He's used to this shit, and he's seen the comments about how 'fucking thugs can't keep their hands off taken babes'.

Prusty throws a glove at his head. “Don't make this so fucking grim,” he tells PK. “I was gonna say it's because you're not already taken.”

“I have a friend who totally has a crush on you,” Gally jumps in. “She's really hot.”

“I don't want your leftovers, asshole.”

“Don't you talk about Taylor this way, she's got more class than you.”

“I still don't wanna date your classy gold digger friend,” PK answers. “Try her on Chucky.”

Chucky, who had been tying his skates, raises his head. “He tried,” he says, with his usual seriously unimpressed face on.

It makes half the room laugh, and Gally grumbles something and goes back to putting on his equipment.

“I'm serious though,” Prusty tells PK when the laughter has died down. “I can introduce you to friends of Maripier's, actresses and stuff.”

“I'm not looking for anyone,” PK says, shaking his head. “And what makes you think I'd need your help if I was?”

Prusty raises his eyebrows.

“Shut up!” PK tells him.

“I'm not saying anything.”

“I'm a lady-killer.”

“Yeah well don't say that to the reporters when you walk out later, they'll have a field day.”

There are no reporters outside the Bell Sports Complex after practice, _fucking finally_.

“Wanna come over?” Pricey asks him in the parking lot.

“Yeah, your place is closer.”

“Uh huh, all because of location.”

“Oh, and Angie's presence, obviously.”

Pricey looks seriously at him, with that stern look that makes PK want to kiss him and press him against something until he can't look anything but like he _needs_.

Pricey gives him the smallest smirk before turning away, just enough that PK can tell that the look was on purpose and it kind of sucks that Pricey knows him so well that he knows which wouldn’t-be-considered-sexy-by-anyone looks have an effect on PK. Well, it doesn't really suck all that much because PK knows what to expect when he gets to the Prices' house, and he's definitely looking forward to that.

They spend a great evening of dinner, wine and sex, rinse and repeat, and they eventually all fall asleep late in the night.

They’re all woken up by every single one of their phones ringing.

Pricey’s the first one who reaches for his. He frowns at the screen and asks them, “Were you making out in the elevator on the way to PK’s floor in Tampa?”

“Maybe?” PK answers, eyes still half-closed.

“The hotel sold the security footage to Deadspin.”

PK’s suddenly very awake.

*

They arrive to the PR meeting at the same time, but are immediately split into different rooms. This whole thing is making the communications staff freak out more than PK thought, because Donald Beauchamp is there. PK has always thought of Dominick as the head of anything media-related, he's the one doing all the hands-on things with players, but apparently they screwed up enough that it warrants the VP's presence. He’s not like Dominick, he doesn’t turn curt and angry in the face of the potential of hundreds of hours of overtime. Donald is tired and disappointed and his words are slow and quiet when he speaks up.

“I’m told you swore, only a few weeks ago, that there was nothing between you and Mrs. Price.”

“Uhm,” PK answers, making a face. “I – that’s not what I said.”

“So there _is_ something between you and Angela Price, then?” He sounds like he’s actually asking the question and expecting an answer, not like it’s rhetorical which it _has_ to be because he’s seen the video.

“Can we say it’s very good video editing?” PK asks.

“No,” Donald answers. “At this point, I don’t think we can.”

“Yeah… I didn’t think so.”

The silence stretches for a while before Donald looks at Dominick, quietly giving him the go-ahead.

“I’m guessing,” Dominick picks up, “that the first thing you want to know is what’s going to happen to your job now, and we can’t tell you. Our job is to try and moderate the media storm that is sure to be coming. What our job _isn’t_ , is to try and fix things between you and Carey, you and the team, or even between Carey and his wife. We can’t tell you anything about a possible suspension or trade because we are not the ones dealing with this. Marc Bergevin is meeting with Carey right now and he’s the one who will have to make choices about your future in the organisation.”

“Don’t try to sugar-coat it…” PK mumbles. Although, really, Bergevin meeting with Pricey first is good, because Pricey can convince him PK’s not an asshole way better than PK can, so maybe there’s hope.

“Now. We _really_ need to know the whole story so we can start on the damage control. It doesn’t mean the press will ever know the truth, but _we_ need to.”

“Ah.” PK slowly rubs the back of his neck. “Uh, well, maybe Carey and Angela need to be here, then. So we can all talk together?”

Dominick strikes the top of the table in front of him, palm open, and even though it’s not that hard it makes PK jump.

“We can’t have Carey here while you tell us, _in detail_ , how long you have been sleeping with his wife!”

PK raises his hands in front of him in defense. “Okay, yeah, I get why you’d think this isn’t a bright move, but I swear I’m not a complete idiot and I’m not angling to be punched in the face.” He lowers his hands. “It’s just… I can’t talk about it without talking to Pricey – to Carey first. I just… I need to talk to Carey.”

He sounds small and uncertain even to his own ears because that’s how he’s feeling. Sure, he can’t answer any of their questions as long as Pricey isn’t there because he’s not going to out him, but mostly he wants to talk to Pricey because he’s afraid that this is going to be the end of it. Pricey has always made it clear that he wanted to stay in the closet for his entire career at the very least and if it’s too hard to crawl out of this particular situation, the next conversation PK has with him and Angie might be about taking a break.

And then what? PK loves them both but he’s not sure he’s ready to lie down and take a beating for them, to take the blame for stealing his best friend’s wife away. And he _wouldn’t_ be the only one blamed: Angie would be, too. Pricey can’t possibly be willing to let both his lovers take the fall for this, just so he can keep on saying he’s a good monogamous straight boy, right? Even if it _is_ PK and Angie’s fault that they are where they are.

“There’s something you’re not telling us,” Donald states, now clearly not expecting an answer. “You’re not the first hockey player I’ve dealt with who thinks this is in his best interest, but it’s not. You’ve had the speech – when you’re in trouble, your first call is not to your family, or the authorities, or whoever else might come to mind; it’s to us. _Before_ you’re in trouble, you talk to us so we can prepare for the trouble. To us, the problem isn’t that you and Angela Price are having an affair; it’s that we didn’t know about it. You should always tell us everything even if you don’t think it’s important, the same way you should always tell everything to your lawyer.”

“And tell nothing to the police,” PK continues automatically.

Donald cracks up and shakes his head. “Ain’t that the truth.”

PK catches a glimpse of Dominick’s face – he doesn’t look like he approves of the way the conversation is going down and like he’s trying to be subtle about it.

“Lecture over – not that you give me the impression that you’d do anything differently if it were to happen again,” Donald says seriously. PK looks away guiltily without saying anything. “What we _can_ talk about is your endgame.”

“My endgame?”

“What do you want? What should we work for, here?”

“Uh…” PK answers, frowning. Truthfully, he hasn’t thought about it. Before the video, he would have answered he wanted nothing to change because it was _possible_ , but now…

“We’re not working for you, of course,” Donald fills in the silence, “we’re working for the club. But as long as what you want doesn’t interfere with the club’s interests, we can multitask.”

“I don’t want anything to change,” PK does say after all, because it’s still the truth even if it doesn’t sound manageable.

“And if you had to choose something smaller?”

It’s hard to prioritise between hockey, Montreal, Pricey and Angie, his family, his reputation… a part of him thinks retiring and being Pricey’s kept man sounds _amazing_.

Before he can figure out an answer, though, Marc Bergevin knocks on the door and him, the Prices and half a dozen other staff people walk in and join them in the conference room. PK makes eye-contact with Angie and Pricey and they both smile at him – Angie considerably more than Pricey – while everyone else in the room holds their breath.

PK raises his eyebrows at Pricey, questioning, and Pricey nods ever so slightly – he’s taking the reigns, they’re fine. Even without knowing what Pricey is planning – or if he’s even planning anything – PK feels a rush of relief going through him.

“Le Club des Canadiens is suing the hotel for invasion of privacy,” Marc Bergevin says once he’s sitting down. Carey is, too. PK, if you also want to do this, we have a team of lawyers we can recommend.”

Suing the hotel hadn’t even crossed PK’s mind so he simply nods, figuring he’ll consider it later.

“Carey's agent is ready for a conference call,” Marc keeps on going. “PK?”

“Don's on a plane.”

“Good, we’ll wait for him.” Turning to Donald, he continues, “Let’s talk about how we’re going to spin the lawsuit.”

“Could we steal the room next door while you do that?” PK cuts in quickly. “Just until my agent arrives.”

There is a long exchange of looks between nearly everyone that ends with Stéphanie standing up and saying, “I’ll unlock the door for you.”

*

The smile Angie had for him next door vanishes when they’re alone. PK thinks, _this is it_ , if even Angie thinks this is too much to deal with, there’s nothing he can possibly do to fix everything. He doesn’t want to be the one to say it – doesn’t think he can bring himself to be – so he stands stiffly next to them, waiting for the hit that is to come.

She turns her look to her husband, and… _glares_ at him. Pricey physically cowers under the look, shoulders up, back arching. Nothing can really make him look small, but he certainly doesn’t look as tall and big as usual.

“Go ahead,” Angie snaps at him.

PK can see Pricey sigh before he says slowly, “I don’t think we have to tell anyone that we’re in a relationship to defuse the situation.”

“Okay?...” PK says, frowning.

“What he _means_ ,” Angie cuts in, “is that he doesn’t _want_ to.”

Pricey has never wanted to; the idea to tell even close friends and family was never on his radar, so of course he wouldn’t want to make it public. PK wasn’t expecting him to come out for his and Angie’s sake. It’s stupid that PK would feel disappointed about it. He nods silently, something stuck in his throat.

Angie doesn’t have to say anything; she’s obviously angry, PK’s obviously sad, and Pricey sits in one of the conference chairs and leans on the table, face in hands. He looks miserable and PK has no solution to offer. They can’t deny that there’s something going on anymore, and PK would take the fall if he could because he’s never going to not be the media’s black sheep, and Pricey is their golden boy. But he’d have to take the fall _with Angie_ , and then it would be really hard to explain why they’re all still friends.

PK has no solution to offer, but there’s a room full of people whose job is to offer solutions to these kind of problems the other side of the wall.

“We should tell the truth to the team’s media staff,” Pricey says, his voice rough, before PK can figure out how to bring it up. “And our agents.”

PK _gets_ that this is hard for Pricey. Pricey who was in denial for months at the beginning of their relationship about maybe actually being into PK; who asked Angie to marry him and PK to be their best man because that was the expected, perfectly heterosexual thing to do; who never planned to ever say anything to his parents; who once said ‘I can’t come out, I’m a role model for the Native community’ and PK doesn’t know if that’s still something he believes; who still says things like ‘I’m not into men, only into you’ to PK, as if that was supposed to be a compliment when PK and Angie try to pull him into a conversation about how fine Idris Elba is.

This is too big of a step for Pricey, but PK is still disappointed, and Angie is still angry, and neither of them makes a move to initiate physical contact before they go back next door.

*

Pricey asks for the bare minimum of people to be there for their confession, and so two thirds of the Communications staff clear out while PK shuffles on his seat. Don is staring at him, huge bags under his eyes, from the other side of the room. PK can’t read his expression, but surely he hasn’t had the best few weeks of his life.

Don knows that PK is bi, because that was _his_ secret to tell, and PK wanted his agent to have some sort of plan in place if PK was ever outed. At the time, PK slept around more, sometimes with strangers who happened to be men, and he’d always thought that he _would_ be outed one day by one of those casual flings and he didn’t care all that much if he was. Don cared, but Don worked for PK. All of this never happened, though, because PK hasn’t had casual flings in three years; the result of being in a serious, closed relationship.

Now, it's a lot worse than a one-night-stand selling his story to a rag paper.

“Gerry, we've got you?” Marc Bergevin asks the expensive microphone.

“Yes,” Pricey's agent confirms. Even with a one-syllable word, it's obvious how fed up he already is.

“Alright,” Donald says. “What's the deal?” He's on edge. PK looks at the small number of people left around the conference table and realises that _everyone_ is on edge. Most of them are looking at him, while he glances at Pricey.

Pricey's jaw is set and he's looking straight in front of him, not meeting anyone's eyes.

“We're all in a relationship.”

Everyone looks _confused_ , and the first to react is PK's agent. He groans loudly, closing his eyes.

“You promised this wouldn't happen!” he throws accusingly at PK.

PK had not been expecting this and he opens his eyes wide. “What?” He clearly never promised to not date Pricey and Angie because he would _remember_.

“When you told me you were bisexual, you fucking idiot. I said it was fine as long as you weren't gonna date a man and a woman at the same time. You said you wouldn't.”

“That wasn't a promise! And you were joking anyway.”

“Yeah well, who's joking now?”

“What?” PK asks again, because that made no sense.

“Wait,” Gerry's voice interrupts slowly. “You're all in a relationship? You're... _all_? Not sharing Angela or whatever. All in _one_ relationship?”

“Yes,” Angie states.

“So we're not looking at how to deal with infidelity within the team...” Donald says, sounding dazed. “We're looking at... what? How to sell the two first out NHL players who are currently in a happy three-way relationship?” He sighs and looks at Pricey. “If Angela's your beard, just tell us.”

“Don just said I was bi,” PK answers before Pricey, shrugging. “Angie’s not just decoration.”

“Your love warms my heart,” Angela rolls her eyes.

“And Carey’s bisexual, too?” Donald continues.

“No,” Pricey says categorically. PK winces, knowing what's coming, feeling his stomach twist. Everyone stares at Pricey, waiting for him to explain himself, explain that he's straight but PK is an exception, and PK steels himself for it.

Pricey's jaw hardens, and he looks down. When he speaks, it's probably not loud enough for Gerry to hear him through the microphone. “Well... maybe,” he exhales. PK can't help his grin.

*

PK is _so_ happy that his mother answers the phone. Her “hello” is cold and hesitant, but she still _picked up_.

“Hey, Ma.”

There's a silence long enough that PK thinks his mom might just hang up before she says, “Your father and I are really disappointed in you.”

“I... It's hard to explain...”

“Don't you dare try to explain why you seduced a married woman, Pernell Karl.”

The use of his full name isn't enough to distract him from the opening his mom gave him. “We were together before she was married. Before _they_ were married. All three of us.”

On the line, he hears his mom's breathe hitch. When she doesn't answer, he continues. “We could all come over when it all dies down. I've been wanting to have a real meet-the-family with them but Pricey didn't want people to know. Now that everything's fucked anyway, might as well.”

“ _Language_! You never used to talk like this before the NHL.”

“Sorry, Ma.” Even the simple familiarity of the exchange doesn't help the tension at all. He's back to listening to his mother breathing on the phone, the faint noise of the movements in the house in the background.

“I don't... PK, you can't be serious. This isn't a proper relationship.”

“It's the best relationship I could have.” He pauses. “Talk to dad? Angela said.... would it help if she called you?”

“Yes. No...” She sighs loudly. “Next week. Tell her to call next week.”

* * *

Report: P. K. Subban And Carey Price Are “Just” Sharing Angela Price  
Barry Petchesky  
Filed to: PK SUBBAN, CAREY PRICE, MONTREAL CANADIENS, NHL  
11/16/14 2:54pm

In one of the most boring statement ever made by an NHL general manager, Canadiens' Marc Bergevin finally commented on the video of defenceman P.K. Subban and goalkeeper Carey Price's wife, Angela Price, kissing in an elevator at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Tampa Bay.

Even with such a heated topic, Marc Bergevin managed to recite the same banalities he would if reporters were pestering one of his players over a picture of him on the beach with an unknown pretty girl.

“Our players' personal lives are personal,” Bergevin said during a press conference earlier this evening.

Immediately, he was asked a follow-up question about whether this means the Canadiens are condoning adultery.

“We've held meetings with both the Prices and P.K. Subban, and have determined that no adultery happened. Whether you believe to trust an exterior source over the words of the involved party is really up to you.” Bergevin answered.

That alone would make anyone think that Marc Bergevin is lying through his teeth. Everyone has seen the elevator video, and it's arguably the most neutral and explicit outside source one could get.

However, if Marc Bergevin wasn’t inclined to give anything, Carey Price and P. K. Subban followed him behind the microphone. Carey Price’s wife, although not on stage herself, was clearly visible standing on the side.

“Thank you for coming,” Subban said, reading his official statement. Subban is usually laidback and lighthearted during interviews, but he had left that behind for this. “One of the little discussed facts of the NHL, and perhaps of professional sports as a whole, is that many players do not have what some would call traditional relationships. The constant traveling makes it hard for every couple, and one of the compromises is for both parties not to remain exclusive.”

Price took over, then. “Angela and I are not the first married couple in the NHL with an open relationship, and we won’t be the last. P.K. is a dear friend and this situation should have remained private as it pertains to our private lives. No one has been dishonest, it’s simply the way we all chose to live our relationship.”

They took a few questions during which they tried to seem boring and overall repeated what they had said already. It’s very challenging to talk about such a topic in a boring manner and they did not exactly succeed.

Even though Price – or the Canadiens’ PR – decided to add in a “simply” in the goalkeeper’s comments, it did not make what he was saying seem less huge than it really is. The Prices “simply” decided to have an open relationship.

Price and Subban speak the truth: everyone does, indeed, know that a fair number of professional athletes have an open relationship, and they broke quite a taboo mentioning it in such a manner. What isn’t common is to have an open relationship that involves one of your teammates – or maybe several, for all we know. Price saying that he is “just” sharing his wife with his teammate and “dear friend” will not make the story go away.  


* * *

Angie leaves after the press conference, staying just long enough to look supportive for the media. PK finds her waiting next to his car, looking tired.

“Hey babe,” he says, taking one of her hands in his and pulling gently until she’s half-leaning on him.

“I hate when you call me ‘babe’.” Angie mutters. “You only do it when I look like shit.”

“I don’t know what you mean, you never look like shit.”

Angie laughs humourlessly. “Take me to your place?”

PK knows better than to ask her if she’s sure, so instead he says, “Does Pricey know not to wait for you?”

“Yes,” she says grimly. “I don’t want to see him right now, you know? But I don’t want to be alone either.”

PK does know.

“It’s not going away,” Angie continues. “I told Carey that last night. All we get to choose is how many of us are being thrown under the media bus.”

“We chose to leave Pricey as untouched as possible. It wouldn’t be very fair to be mad at him because he’s gonna get less shit than we are.”

“Yes. But he didn’t even suggest to share the fall with us.”

Angie is a more bitter person than PK, but she’s also more forgiving. PK rarely gets angry and mad at people, but when he does it takes a long time to go away. It worries him to find himself agreeing with Angie because if he starts resenting Pricey for this, it’s going to be the beginning of the end.

“Come on.” He lets go of Angie’s hand to open the passenger door for her. “Let’s go home and eat mac and cheese. We’ll feel better tomorrow.”

* * *

Subban and the Prices: I just hope they have 3-ways  
Posted by jesusprice31 on November 19th 2014 at 1:03AM

Most of us will have heard about how _brilliant_ the hockey gossip currently is. This isn’t a post to explain it YET AGAIN but just in case, context is important, so here’s what happened:

-P. K. Subban and Carey Price are teammates for the Montreal hockey team  
-Carey Price is married  
-Carey Price’s wife accompanies him to an away game  
-After said game, she goes to P. K. Subban’s hotel room  
-We get pictures  
-Carey Price is very convincing when he says he knew and it wasn’t anything  
-Like, REALLY convincing  
-I believed him  
-We’re starting to forget about it  
-Plot twist! There is a VIDEO of Angela Price and PK Subban KISSING that is TOTALLY INVASION OF PRIVACY but HOLY FUCK GUYS  
-Over 2 days of radio silence from the team  
-When they finally say something it’s that Carey and Angela are in an OPEN RELATIONSHIP  
-They are NOT MONOGAMOUS guys  
-It’s AMAZING  
-Carey Price KNOWS and APPROVES of P. K. Subban sleeping with his wife!  
-Everyone’s flipping their shit

Now that you’re all up to speed, I am here to offer some suggestions, because there are things out there (that might vanish from the great world wide web soon so I SAVED EVERYTHING) like this picture:

And also this following tweet:

> Bet Carey didn't think he would be spending his honey moon with me! [#letsgetiton](https://twitter.com/hashtag/letsgetiton?src=hash) [#Mmmmhm](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mmmmhm?src=hash) [#calgarybound](https://twitter.com/hashtag/calgarybound?src=hash)… <http://t.co/aHcymw0nbF>
> 
> — P.K. Subban (@PKSubban1) [August 25, 2013](https://twitter.com/PKSubban1/status/371656661314064384)  
> 

  


And those lead me to ask myself:

If Angela Price and P. K. have slept together, and Angela Price and Carey have slept together, might they have ALL slept together at some point? Why wouldn’t they have done both in the same bed at the same time?

It would save time, I’m sure!

They’re all insisting without really saying it that it’s all _properly straight_ but I offer you once more the above evidence.

And anyway, there’s the golden rule…

  


  


* * *

“You guys all know that we’re going to be under media fire in the near future,” Michel Therrien tells the team before practice. He’s been in the room all along, waiting for everyone to arrive, so no one’s dared to ask anything to him or Pricey so far. “One, I don’t want any of it to get on the ice. We play hockey on the ice, and we’re professionals about it. Two, there’s a gag order on Carey, PK and Angela’s relationship from Donald Beauchamp, but that doesn’t mean questions won’t sneak through. There’s gonna be a PR meeting with all of you soon, and _they’re_ going to tell you what politically correct, polite formulations to use. I get to tell you what I don’t want to hear from any of you. I don’t want to see anyone be anything less than 100% supportive about your teammates’ relationship. If they’re happy, you’re _all_ happy.” He turns to PK and Pricey and asks, “Are you happy?”

Pricey doesn’t look like he’s going to answer so PK speaks up. “I was happier before our love life got plastered all over the internet.”

“See?” Therrien continues, nodding once. “They’re happy. If you don’t get it, fine, I don’t get it either. That’s why we’re not in their situation. Are we clear?”

Everyone makes the proper affirmative noise while looking about just as confused as usual when their coach talks about things other than hockey.

“On the ice in twenty,” he finishes before leaving the room.

PK can feel the electricity in the room buzzing once Therrien has left, no one speaking up but also not getting dressed. Even Gally won’t talk about the elephant in the room, so PK starts putting on his equipment. It’s incredibly awkward.

“So… Was that the truth at the press conference?” Patches asks finally.

PK peeks at Pricey to see if he’s going to answer. He’s been generally bad at talking about any of this for ever, and it hasn’t changed only because he now _has_ to talk about it sometimes. Pricey hasn’t stopped getting dressed efficiently, and doesn’t look like he’s involved in this conversation, so PK replies, “Yes”. 

At about the same time, Pricey unexpectedly states “No”.

Immediately, PK can see about half the team tense up like they’re getting ready for a battle. Prusty and Pleks eye him dangerously while Davey and Ticker move in protectively closer to Pricey.

PK is staring right at Pricey, eyes wide and questioning. Pricey looks startled, like he hadn’t really thought about the consequences of answering the truth, but that’s probably not it because Pricey constantly considers those things. 

It doesn’t last long. Pricey’s face turns back to his default expression of serious with a touch of not-caring-that-much and he continues. “We’re not really in an open relationship – PK’s the only one who can sleep with Angela. So I better not see any of you making a move on my wife.”

“That’s not very fair,” Gally answers the chirp immediately, making some of the tension drop. “What d’you need to have to pass your selection process?”

“A Norris trophy,” PK chips in immediately with a smirk. It might have been a serious conversation thirty seconds ago, but now that it has dissolved entirely into chirps, PK knows the topic will be dropped. Pricey has to know it too, but there’s still an edge in his shoulder. It stays until Pricey puts on his pads and even then, it’s just that PK can’t see if it’s still there or not.

PK waits for Pricey after practice so they can leave together. There are still reporters outside every day, and PK isn’t counting on them to tire out of the story for months. Walking out together means they are more ferocious, but it gives the appearance of a united front.

What PK hadn’t expected is that save for a few guys who have to be somewhere right away and leave in a hurry, the entire team undresses, showers, and hangs out.

“What are you guys doing?” PK asks when it becomes obvious that they are all waiting for him and Pricey.

“We’re all leaving together,” Patches explains. “It’s going to be very hard for reporters to ask you any questions if you’re part of a herd.”

“You might be underestimating them,” Pricey says.

Patches shrugs. “If they try asking questions, let us answer, then.”

A few hours later, pictures of twenty Canadiens players walking closely together while hauling hockey bags somehow without hitting each other – except when on purpose – make it to a fair number of sports news and gossip websites. They all quote some of the stupid shit the team told reporters. Every single article is partial to Chucky’s answer to “Drew Doughty went on record saying that open relationships aren’t that prevalent in the league, and that you are condoning the idea that professional athletes are all unfaithful. What’s your take on this?”

“Very common,” Chucky had jumped in. “And it’s not cheating when everyone knows and agrees. I have four girlfriends, myself.”

“Four?!” Gally had exclaimed.

“Sorry about him. He’s one of my girlfriends and he thought they were only three. That’s not good, I’m giving a bad example. Don’t quote me.”

The next day, they have a meeting with PR telling them to never do something like that again. They can still walk out together, but could they possibly do it in silence.

Later, in the locker room Therrien tells them, “Good job yesterday. That’s what I’m talking about.”

It’s an uneventful home game against the Panthers - they win 3-1.

Angie has been at PK’s for two days, now, and their relationship with Pricey is definitely strained, but the win makes PK feel like it’s going to be okay, after all.

*

Pricey waits for him next to his car at the Bell Sports Complex the next day. His hands are in his pockets, his neck doing its best to hide in his shoulders; he’d be the picture of small and shy if he wasn’t 1.90 meters and basically made of muscles.

“Hey,” he says.

PK’s heart is basically melting at everything Pricey does, even now, and he looks at him with what he’s sure is a lovesick expression. “Hey.”

“How’s Angela?”

“She’s okay.”

“And you?”

“I’m okay, too.” They stare at the floor and sometimes at each other for a while. “We miss you,” PK says, because it’s true even if it feels like a stupid thing to admit at the moment.

“Yeah, I miss you too. It’s – it’s all really fucked, you know? I think about what to do basically all the time and I don’t know. It’s just really fucked.”

“Yeah… You know we both still love you, right? We just need some time, but it’s gonna be fine.”

Pricey nods. “I just wish I could… I wanted to tell the team and I couldn’t even manage that. I wish you’d just said it, then, before I got the chance to chicken out.”

“No, you don’t.” PK doesn’t give Pricey enough time to answer before continuing, “How are _you_?”

Pricey shrugs. “Not okay. Okay sometimes. Whenever someone asks me anything about our relationship, there’s a part of me that’s really glad that no one knows, and then another part that feels guilty as fuck.”

PK smiles. He gets it, because a part of him is really glad this whole plan saved at least Pricey from being dragged into most of this shit when he’s not mad that he’s the only one safe. He doesn’t allow himself to say that out loud.

Pricey grabs PK’s bicep and pulls him closer, leans forward and kisses him gently. It’s slow and nearly chaste. It’s weird.

Just like that, the good feelings from yesterday’s game are gone, and PK doesn’t want to think about it.

*

Sometimes, PK’s kind of slow. He knows he’s not a complete idiot, but he’s also in a relationship with two people who are much brighter than he is and that’s cool, he’s fine with it.

They’re in a long stretch of home games that are going generally fine. The media are mostly negative about them but it’s not nearly as bad as PK thought it would be, and after-game questions are about hockey – surprising but great.

Even though everything’s contained, and PR is obviously pleased with it, the situation with Pricey is frozen in place, not getting any better or worse. Angie’s still living with PK a week later, and PK’s kind of slow, so a week is the time it takes him to realise that they’re on a break.

“Do you want to talk?” Angie asks him. They’re sitting and half-cuddling on PK’s sofa, technically watching Netflix but PK wouldn’t even be able to name the show they’re watching.

“That bad?”

Angie smiles. “You haven’t answered to the last two comments I’ve made.”

“Sorry.”

Angie waves her hand slightly, dismissing the apology as unnecessary. “Do you want to talk about it, then?”

PK swallows. “Not really.”

Angie waits.

“It’s just…” PK still starts, eventually. “We’re taking a break right now. I didn’t want to see it that way but that’s what it is. And breaks are fucking stupid, they exist so people in relationships that aren’t working realise that it’s not working, or for people who want to break up but do it gradually instead of in one go. No one comes back from a break into a more solid relationship.”

“Plenty of people do,” Angie argues softly. “And our situation isn’t exactly typical.”

“I feel – shouldn’t we be trying to fix it? We’re not _doing_ anything.”

Angie nods. “I was going to tell you I’m moving back home the day before your road trip. I’ve been talking to Carey.”

PK smiles, “Yeah?”

“It’s going to be different from now on, but I told him that. I told him that we’d all need time. I still wish we could go public.” She sighs. “You could finally just move in with us and we’d be able to… I don’t know.”

“Yeah,” PK agrees. He can’t explain it either but, yes, _that_. “He nearly told the team last week. I think he wants it out, too. He just also doesn’t.”

*

Pricey looks very tired when they get on the plane for a 4-game North-East road trip. PK smiles at him and waggles his eyebrows.

“Good tired?”

Pricey rolls his eyes but he’s trying to stop himself from smiling. “You’re an idiot,” he answers.

PK’s smile turns into a shit-eating grin. “You know I’m coming over to your place first night back to Montreal, now.”

“You can’t even let me keep my wife for more than a night before intruding?” Pricey chirps.

“Yeah, don’t you ever listen to Don Cherry? I’m greedy and shit, you have to deal with it.”

The first game is still 0-0 after 60 minutes, and then Ovechkin scores during overtime, a top-corner shot from deep on the left side.

Pricey is pissed. “He always shoots the same fucking way. You’d think I could fucking deal with him at some point.”

“No goalie can deal with him,” Pleks points out wisely. “Don’t feel bad about it.”

“I’ll feel bad about whatever I want!”

About two minutes later, Pricey is calmly telling the reporters squeezing around him that everyone had a very good game, good chances on both sides. They gave it their all but ultimately it wasn’t enough. They have to take it one day at a time. None of that will stop them from doing better next time.

PK is rolling his eyes during the whole thing.

The next game is an overtime win against the Devils, and then they have a day off in Boston before playing the Bruins.

PK tells anyone who asks that playing the Bruins is mostly like playing any other team, but he’s lying through his teeth every time. The Bruins are _hard_ , their fans are a nightmare, and no one will ever convince him that the booing whenever he touches the puck isn’t racist as fuck. He doesn’t get mad or flustered about that kind of bullshit, but it’s also not quite true that it doesn’t affect him in some way.

It’s not surprising that everything goes wrong in Boston.

When they go on the ice for the practice skate, he gets a glimpse of the signs the fans are holding against the glass and his eyes focus on one calling Angela a slut. His blood is boiling because _what the fuck_? You don’t bring wives and family onto the ice – but that’s a rule that even players break sometimes, and some fans don’t care about this.

He looks over to the corner where Pricey is stretching and can tell that he’s seen it, too. And if that kind of stuff does distract the goalie of the opposing team, than the idiot with the sign will only be proud of himself.

The sign is gone when the game starts, and PK plays about as well as he usually does, but whenever he has a few minutes on the bench his mind wanders back to it. Pricey is playing like the genius he is, so that’s good, they’re _not_ letting themselves be affected.

They’re winning 2-1 towards the end of the second period when they go on an ad break and the jumbotron starts showing signs people are holding above their heads.

WE LOVE YOU CHÁRA!, two women are waving around.

MARRY ME TUUKKA, one man is holding up, and he gets some applause for, most likely, the hilarity of the gay joke.

PK turns to Marky to talk to him about their last play when he hears Davey swear under his breath and Prusty mutter “fucking assholes” as the fans erupt in a huge happy ruckus. PK looks up at the jombotron again.

On a white board, there’s a picture of Angela with a thought bubble that reads ANY ONE BRUIN WOULD BE ENOUGH OF A MAN FOR ME. The man holding the sign is revelling under the attention, grinning madly and shaking it around.

“That’s nasty,” Gally comments.

“It’s Boston,” Therrien cuts in coldly. “Keep your head in the game.”

Next time PK is on the ice, he gets stuck in the corner fighting for the puck with Milan Lucic. Lucic wins the struggle and passes in front of the net. Pricey makes the save and freezes the puck. After the whistle, Lucic skates close by PK and says clearly, “I’ll have to look up Angela Price next time I’m in Montreal. Maybe my dick’s big enough for her.” The fucker grins and lick his teeth while skating away.

PK positions himself for the face-off. Soderberg wins it, passes back, there’s a bit of moving the puck around until Lucic has it again in the corner.

PK doesn’t even go for the puck. He grabs his stick with both hands, raises it, and crosschecks Lucic at full-force from behind. He hears the whistle even before Lucic hits the ice, but the sound seems far. He can hear his heart beating the clearest.

Lucic doesn’t get up right away, and PK starts skating vaguely towards the box. He knows exactly what he did and he’s fine with getting a penalty for it. After Lucic gets up and skates off the ice to his bench, the referee skates to the middle of the ice.

“Boarding. Five-minute game misconduct.”

“ _What?_ ” PK yells. “What the hell? That was just a cross-check! How can that lead to a game misconduct?”

The referee doesn’t answer, of course, and PK is eventually shooed off the ice. He’s livid and looking murderous enough that his teammates move out of his way. He slashes his stick on the wall of the corridor leading to the locker rooms and leaves what’s left of the broken stick behind.

Even though he doesn’t really want to keep on watching this stupid game, he keeps an eye on one of the screens in the locker room. They’re 5-on-4 for five minutes – until the end of the period and then for another minute after the intermission – and PK’s still fuming but he’s starting to care again.

One minute before the end of the period, the score is still 2-1 and Brad Marchand is in Pricey’s face, making his place in the crease.

“Push him!” PK yells to Emmy or Beau – whoever.

The one that does push him is Pricey. A second later, Marchand is right back where he was. Pricey pushes him again, and Marchand turns his head and says something.

Pricey has the good sense to unhook his net before throwing himself on Marchand. Marchand stumbles under the weight of a fully-equipped goaltender and Pricey falls with him, landing purposely on top of the Bruin.

PK watches, transfixed, as Marchand tries to retaliate but also clearly does his best not to really get into the fight because he has to know that the moment he hits Pricey for real is when this turns into a complete brawl. Marchand takes the hits, blocking when he can, trying to push Pricey away so he can stand up and skate away. It takes a good ten seconds before two officials show up to pull Pricey away, and Marchand looks shocked and unstable on his skates as he goes back to his bench.

Somehow, Pricey doesn’t even get a major on this, but they’ll still be 5-on-3 for two minutes. Beau sits in the box for Pricey’s penalty, and the game starts again. It’s still 2-1 when the period ends.

*

“Do you know what they’re going to do now?” Therrien yells at the top of his lungs during intermission. “Not just the Bruins for third, I’m talking every team! Forever! They’re all going to talk to you both about Angela because now they know it’s going to push your buttons like nothing else! ‘Talk to PK Subban about Angela Price, he’ll get ejected of the game’, ‘Talk to Carey Price about this wife, you’ll get a powerplay!’ You are hurting the whole team with your bullshit! This. Is. _Work_! Act like it!”

He lowers his tone and starts talking about the minute of 5-on-3 they have left. PK looks at Pricey and their eyes meets. He looks determined and fired up, not chastened at all.

PK watches the rest of the game from the sideline. Pricey’s more aggressive than usual, far out of his crease and clearly not caring, like he thinks he’s Jonathan Quick or something. Lucic gets an unsportsmanlike conduct minor against Pricey early on. The penalty doesn’t stop him from antagonising Pricey very obviously later on, until Pricey reacts and gets Lucic to drop his stick on the ice by hitting it with his catcher – which looks kind of accidental – and then proceeds to kick it away past the H-mark – very clearly on purpose. He gets a two-minute for stick-holding and Michel Therrien calls for a time-out. 

Pricey takes his sweet time making his way to the bench. When he gets there, Therrien starts talking to him sternly and Pricey shrugs once and shakes his head, so _that_ can’t mean anything good. Therrien points to Ticker, Pricey shrugs again, and whatever threats Therrien was making, Pricey is back in the net after the time-out.

He gets another penalty towards the end of the game, officially getting more penalty minutes in one game than he has in the last few years combined. He lets a goal in on that last penalty kill and PK swears loudly.

It’s a shootout loss. PK stands next to the door to the locker room as the team comes back and he offers weak “good game guys” while he waits for Pricey. He’s not the only one waiting for him: Dominick Saillant is there, too.

Pricey is last. He notices Dominick and tells him, “No media.”

“Yeah,” Dominick agrees, nodding, not sounding pleased about it but resigned that he has no other choice. If reporters are surprised that they’re not getting in the room tonight, they’re idiots.

Pricey then looks at PK. “Come to my room tonight,” he says.

PK’s eyes widen. Dominick purses his lips together, definitely close enough to have heard that, and PK thinks Davey who was walking right in front of Pricey might have heard it, too.

“You sure?”

“Yes,” Pricey answers, sounding it.

They predictably get roasted by Therrien in the locker room and the drive back to the hotel is tense and silent. 

When they get off the bus, Therrien keeps Pricey behind to talk to him. PK ends up in front of Pricey’s door, not able to get in and conspicuous as hell. He doesn’t know how long it’s going to take and if Pricey will even still want him there after two roasts and having come down from some of his adrenaline, so he ends up going to his own room instead.

Ten minutes later, Pricey knocks.

“You’re not in my room.”

“I didn’t have a key,” PK answers simply.

Pricey fists his hand in PK’s t-shirt and pulls him forward in an aggressive kiss. PK kisses back without caring about the press of teeth against his lips, but eventually he starts thinking about how they are in the door frame of a hotel. They have a bad record of doing stupid shit in hotels recently.

“Wait, wait,” he says against Pricey’s lips. “We’re – _corridor_.”

“I don’t care.”

PK stops kissing Pricey and puts at least two inches of distance between their lips. “People creep in hotel corridors and take pictures,” he reminds Pricey.

“I don’t care,” Pricey repeats. “PK, listen, I don’t care.”

“Yeah you do, you fucking idiot. Now get in.”

Pricey listens and PK closes the door behind them.

“I _don’t_ ,” Pricey says one last time before pushing PK against the wall, and PK figures that to continue arguing right now would be stupid and useless.

Pricey, who is usually exhausted after games, takes complete control of everything, making the sex into a fight that PK welcomes. They both have a lot of frustration and anger to use up. PK only partly muffles the sounds he’s making into a pillow as Pricey fucks him, and Pricey never once tells him to tone it down.

*

The next morning, PK is taken by surprise by how much Pricey does not regret asking PK to come to his room where people could hear, or having sex on the road, or choosing to stay and sleep in PK's room afterwards, or… well, _anything_. It’s starting to worry PK.

“So… what did Marchand and Lucic say to you yesterday?” he asks, thinking this is probably the root of Pricey’s behaviour.

Pricey shrugs. “Just some bullshit about Angela.”

PK squints but doesn’t push. “Alright, let’s go get breakfast,” he suggests instead.

Pricey walks out first and doesn’t do anything to close the door and stop PK from walking out after him when he sees Prusty in the hallway. PK tries to shut the door behind him in a nonchalant fashion but it’s quite hard when he’s suddenly worried Pricey is going to freak out on him.

Prusty looks at them, frowns, widens his eyes, and asks, laughing, “Did you spend the night in PK's room?”

“Oh,” Pricey says like nothing’s wrong. “Yeah.”

“Hah! Seriously?”

Pricey shrugs. PK’s the one freaking out instead of Pricey, now.

“What was that about?” PK hisses when they’re walking away from Prusty. “Prusty’s going to tell without even knowing that he shouldn’t.”

“The team has to know at some point. I told you yesterday, I don’t care. Shouldn’t you be glad that I’m finally okay with people knowing?”

“It’s fucking weird, if you wanna know the truth. For three years you didn’t want anyone at all to ever know anything. And then overnight–”

“Not overnight,” Pricey interrupts. “I’ve been thinking about it for more than a month, now.”

“That’s practically overnight for how little your opinion moved for so long. Maybe you should slow down, take a break. Yesterday’s game screwed with us.”

Pricey’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He takes it out to look at the call display. “I have to take that,” he says, and walks away where PK can’t hear him.

*

PK gets a call from his parents a few hours before the last game of the road trip against the Sabres. He’s so excited about it that he fumbles with his phone and nearly hangs up instead of answering.

“Hi!”

“Hi sweetheart,” his mom says, making PK grin madly. “How are you?”

“Oh… you know…” he answers. “Better now that you called. How are you?”

“We’re good.” PK hears his father saying something in the background. “Your dad wants to know if you are being benched tonight, considering last game.”

“No, no. I’m playing, it’s cool. Boston just always has a way to creep under my skin.”

“They were being _horrid_ about your relationship,” his mom agrees. “Carey called us the next day to make sure we weren’t mad at you. This young man of yours doesn’t know us very well.”

The breath goes out of him. “You’ve been talking to Carey?”

“Yes,” his mother says, sheepish. “Angela, too, which was your suggestion. We’re sorry it took us so long to accept all this. Carey says you make him very happy. You and Angela both. And your dad and I know that you are happy, too… or you were before it became public.”

“Carey _told_ you all that? He’s been talking to you about our relationship?”

“Should he not have?”

“Well… no, it’s good. Great. He just never told me.”

“We weren’t very receptive, at first,” his mom admits. “It probably would have just hurt you to tell you.”

When the team meets up for the pre-game practice, PK smiles at Pricey in a way that has to be 100% lovesick, and Pricey returns a similar look.

“Christ, get a room you two,” Prusty says.

“Get a room that doesn’t share a wall with mine!” Gally complains.

Everyone laughs, including Pricey.

“So, like, everyone knows now?” PK asks Prusty a bit later.

“Yeah, well, it makes a _lot_ more sense that you’re sleeping together and it’s a weird-ass three-way thing, than it made sense to think about Pricer in an open relationship.”

They lose against the Sabres, but hopefully no one will be saying that it’s because PK or Pricey lost their cool, because it wasn’t. They just all played like ass, as they do against the worst teams in the league.

*

PK calls Angela before returning to Montreal.

“He told the team that we’re all in one big relationship and he’s not freaking out.”

“Oh, great!” Angela answers, sincere.

“Yeah? Yeah. It _is_ great.”

“Are _you_ freaking out?”

“Kind of?”

Angela laughs at him. “You’re ridiculous! Why?”

“I don’t know! He’s been in the closet for so long, in such an _intense_ way, you know. What if he realises that’s not what he wanted? He won’t be able to go back.”

“He won’t.”

“He might. Maybe he’s only doing this for us.”

“Maybe he is. But, one: I think that wouldn’t be a bad reason to do it; and two: did you ever regret coming out to anyone? Even the ones who reacted badly, to whom you never talked again? Or did it just make you want to come out to more people?”

PK thinks about it even though he doesn’t have to. “You’re very bright,” he says.

“Yes, I am. So are you coming home with Carey after you land tonight?”

*

As they’re landing in Montreal, Dominick moves down the alley, taps PK on the shoulder, then does the same for Pricey one seat down. They move up to the front of the plane for what appears to be an impromptu PR meeting.

“The chances there will be reporters at the airport is very high after a road trip like this one, especially since we blocked media after the Boston game and warned against asking any questions not relevant to the game after Buffalo.”

Pricey nods once and PK says, “Yeah, we figured.”

“They won’t be _our_ guys, we can’t control what they’re going to say, so we’re going to move fast through the airport and not say anything to anyone.”

“Sure,” PK answers.

Pricey looks pensive. “I might wanna answer some of those questions,” he says.

Dominick looks very unhappy about this. “I would strongly advise against it.”

“Okay,” Pricey says. PK is very suspicious about how fast Pricey changed his mind, and Dominick looks like he agrees with PK’s general sentiment.

“All right,” Dominick confirms.

There are a lot of unusual faces waiting for them at the airport, the same guys that had waited for them after the pictures had first been published.

They throw questions around loudly as the whole team moves forward like a wall.

“Can you comment on the rumours that you both are actually all in a three-way relationship with Angela Price?”

Pricey slows down and turns to look at the man who just screamed that question straight in the eyes, establishing contact, and Dominick can’t do anything to stop Pricey from answering, “Yes. That one is true.”

It’s fucking _chaos_. Dominick looks like he wants to both faint and kill people at the same time. He ends up asking his assistant for help to push Pricey out of the way, _out of the way! Just get the fuck out of here!_

Pricey and PK are not permitted to go back to get their cars. They are ushered into a black nondescript car with Dominick who starts yelling as soon as the door are closed.

“If you wanted to come out, this is not how to do it! You talk to us about it, we find a nice LGBT-friendly media and veto all the questions! This is fucking unacceptable Carey, you are a professional hockey player and this includes dealing with media in the appropriate manner! Fuck, Donald is going to fucking kill me.”

“I’m sorry,” Pricey says, and PK’s surprised that he _sounds_ it. “I just… I was scared I’d chicken out if we planned anything in advance. That way, it’s done.”

Dominick rubs at his face with his hands and makes a guttural whine that sounds vaguely like a whale dying.

“We’ll do the interview with whatever friendly newspaper or website you like,” PK cuts in, taking pity on the poor man whose job they are making kind of impossible. “You can choose all the questions. Angie will be there. It will be an amazing interview, promise. You’ll get to plan the first out players in the league who also happen to be in a polyamorous relationship. You’ll make history.”

“You both owe us all so much,” Dominick says, and then repeats it at regular intervals until they get to Pricey’s house.

“I’ll get off here, too,” PK tells Dominick with a smile. “We’ll talk to you soon.”

Angela opens the door when they’re still on the front porch.

“There’s a shaky video of people screaming that seems to have Carey telling a bunch of reporters that we’re in a relationship on Montreal Blog.”

“Yeah, that is a thing that happened,” PK answers happily.

“ _Montreal Blog_?”

“They were probably just the only ones with a camera phone that caught it, or were the fastest,” Pricey says with a shrug. “It wasn’t planned.”

Angela laughs and shakes her head. “I can’t leave you alone for a week. Get into my bed, you idiots.”

*

DON CHERRY: It’s so hard to comment on any hockey games with Montreal now because all people talk about is P. K. Subban, Carey Price and Angelina Price.

RON MACLEAN: Angela Price.

DON CHERRY: Yeah something like that. And it is a NIGHTMARE. A NIGHTMARE for hockey that this happened because no one cares about hockey anymore! Everyone cares about things that are private to these men and should have stayed private and it’s terrible. Just terrible.

RON MACLEAN: Yes, Patrick Burke has said in the past that his goal was for a player coming out not to end up being a story, but clearly we are not there yet. It is quite a story.

DON CHERRY: It is HUGE and no one will ever convince me that this was not on purpose. I know it’s not proper to say it but we’re all thinking it. Subban and Angeline Price wanted some publicity and they roped a nice Canadian boy, the best goalie of the league into it – and is he even the best goalie now? Who knows! – and look! Look at the stands! All these people with gay propaganda! They’re not here for hockey!

RON MACLEAN: They might be here for hockey also, Don.

DON CHERRY: These people aren’t here for hockey! They might be interested in hockey but they’re not here FOR hockey.

RON MACLEAN: Wait a minute, what are you talking about? Are we back ten years in the past that you think some group of people can’t appreciate hockey?

DON CHERRY: I’m not the one saying it! They’re the ones saying it with all these rainbows and signs about how happy they are for Price and Subban, it’s just ludicrous! Be happy for your favourite hockey player because he’s scored a goal or made an assist, not because he’s in a possibly illegal marital arrangement! Back in the days, we knew that hockey was about hockey. Hockey came FIRST! And now it’s about being a pretty boy like those Swedes and talking about your sex life! And now the NHL is talking about adding homophobic taunts or slurs to the list of game misconducts for what? Two players?

RON MACLEAN: Well I personally think this is an improvement for the league, and let’s be honest – it’s for a lot more than two players.

DON CHERRY: You don’t know that! We don’t know that!

RON MACLEAN: We know, Don.

FIN

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Knowing the Score](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5148572) by [cinderlily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily)




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